Letters to the Editor

Hot List

Regarding last week’s summer guide:

I don’t know how familiar you are with skateboarding, but it is illegal in most places in Philadelphia (including every location except for FDR that you mentioned on your list). Since your article came out, the ledges at Love Park have been knobbed (big pieces of metal fused to concrete so you can’t grind or slide on them). I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple other spots you mentioned on your list get skate-stopped in the near future.

In the past, there were small windows of time when you could enjoy these spots; it was just a matter of knowing what the best time was to go. Now that the entire city of Philadelphia knows about these spots, these windows of time are long gone and will never return. I wanted to warn you that the next time you publish something about a controversial topic such as skateboarding in Philadelphia, please perform extensive research before printing anything. One of the main reasons I decided to go to school in Philadelphia was to skate Love Park, and now that is gone forever. Please tread more carefully next time.

ANDREW PRIBULKA via email

This must of been written by a gay man! I love it!

JEFF, Bella Vista

Your self-professed list craziness was amusing, but I’m unsure why you want to avoid conversation with your fellow Temple alumni so much that you’d make it one of your themes. Get over yourself, because it’s not that deep. Engaging in a coincidental chat on the train or in a checkout line doesn’t necessitate us becoming each other’s bridesmaids, kidney donors, investors, dog sitters or happy hour play dates. Also, given the recent spike in unemployment claims, there are still many people who would appreciate a serendipitous job lead, regardless of the connection.

J. WASHINGTON, via philadelphiaweekly.com

Your Top 5 Public Sculptures left out the famous “Indian” on Council Rock in Wissahickon Valley Park, John Massey Rhind’s 1902 figure of a Lenape chief gazing westward; it commemorates the departure (years earlier) of the native peoples from our region.

Unlike the other sculptures in your list, this one can only be seen on foot, and the best view is from the trail that climbs the steep hillside above the Wissahickon Creek.

SUSAN CHARKES, Narberth

Douche Life

I’ve witnessed the martini bar/velvet rope upscaling of Old City, the hipster overthrow of South Street/NoLibs and the Penn/Drexel fratdude diaspora in West Philly. And I’m not even going to discuss NE Philly! The douchebag bar factor has been an incurable, creeping virus in this town for many years. Great places for the “other people” like myself and my friends were always eventually overrun by the “other-other people.”

Bars are like those cherished, under-the-radar bands that suddenly start making hit records and become mainstream ... when everybody else gets into them, much is lost.

JIM RUSSO, South St.

Congratulations you’ve proven to be the expert in the douchebag field. In what area of expertise do you have any idea of a good night out? The fact you compose this article is a statement in itself, that you can’t go out to bars to have fun but to do a job. Thanks for the great feedback on what its like to go to a bar as a douchebag. Have a good one.

COMMENTS

“Temple University’s Displaced StudentsTemple University has neglected to take the appropriate responsibility for its Ambler Campus’ residents. We were told that there will no longer be dormitories after this past semester. Coined as “displaced students”, we feel that Temple should have given us information of upcoming changes in a timely manner. Due to Temple’s lack of timeliness, we are struggling to find places to live and financial aid because the deadline to apply was long over before the students were made aware of the administration’s decision.Student workers in the Admissions Department were told by administrators in April of 2009 that there was a possibility the dormitories would be closed as of the 2010- 2011 year. In the Fall semester of 2009, they were told not to show the dormitory display room to prospective students, as housing was not guaranteed. There was to be no mention of the dormitories unless questions were raised by prospective students. When asked, Admissio”